Compact composite process analytical technology (PAT) probes have been identified as a priority to alleviate space constraints in milliliter-scale crystallizers to mitigate their impact on ...hydrodynamics. Real-time monitoring of the liquid and solid phases in crystallization processes is vital to ensure the critical quality attributes of the crystallized material, including consistently obtaining the solid form. In this proof-of-principle study, a compact composite sensor array (CCSA, 380 × 30 mm housing length × diameter, 7 mm probe head diameter that combines ultraviolet (UV) and near-infrared (NIR) features at four different wavelengths (280, 340, 600, and 860 nm) as well as temperature measuring capabilities was evaluated. Flufenamic acid (FFA), a polymorphic compound with an enantiotropic relationship between its forms I and III, was used as the model API. The results indicate that the CCSA similarly to an established Raman spectrometer monitors the significant inflection points (timestamps) for three batch cooling crystallization processes: (1) spontaneous nucleation, (2) seeded, and (3) solvent-mediated polymorphic phase transformation (SMPT). Ultimately, the data presented in this study prove that the CCSA might be used as a cost-effective process analyzer to routinely monitor qualitatively crystallization processes while addressing the need for compact PATs suitable for small-scale set-ups.
Orbital angular momentum (OAM) carried by helical light beams is an unbounded degree of freedom that offers a promising platform in modern photonics. So far, integrated sources of coherent light ...carrying OAM are based on resonators whose design imposes a single, non-tailorable chirality of the wavefront (that is, clockwise or counterclockwise vortices). Here we propose and demonstrate the realization of an integrated microlaser where the chirality of the wavefront can be optically controlled. Importantly, the scheme that we use, based on the optical breaking of time-reversal symmetry in a semiconductor microcavity, can be extended to different laser architectures, thus paving the way to the realization of a new generation of OAM microlasers with tunable chirality.Based on optically breaking time-reversal symmetry by spin polarizing a gain medium with a circularly polarized optical pump, an integrated scheme for controlling the chirality of orbital angular momentum lasing is demonstrated.
•We collect a comprehensive set of non-academic characteristics for a representative sample of incoming college freshman.•Divers and Thrivers are students whose first-year college average ...respectively lies far below and far above expectations.•Divers are more impatient and less conscientious. They often cram for exams and wait longer before starting assignments.•Thrivers are more purpose-driven, and willing to study more hours per week to obtain the higher GPA they expect.•Key non-academic variables improves our ability to predict at-risk students when used jointly with past grades.
We introduce a novel method for collecting a comprehensive set of non-academic characteristics for a representative sample of incoming freshman to explore which measures best predict the wide variance in first-year college performance unaccounted for by past grades. We focus our attention on student outliers. Students whose first-year college average is far below expectations (divers) have a high propensity for procrastination – they self-report cramming for exams and wait longer before starting assignments. They are also considerably less conscientious than their peers. Divers are more likely to express superficial goals, hoping to ‘get rich’ quickly. In contrast, students who exceed expectations (thrivers) express more philanthropic goals, are purpose-driven, and are willing to study more hours per week to obtain the higher GPA they expect. A simple seven-variable average of these key non-academic variables does well in predicting college achievement relative to adding more variables or letting a machine-algorithm choose, and improves our ability to predict at-risk students when used jointly with past grades.
The effectiveness of ecological restoration actions toward biodiversity conservation depends on both local and landscape constraints. Extensive information on local constraints is already available, ...but few studies consider the landscape context when planning restoration actions. We propose a multiscale framework based on the landscape attributes of habitat amount and connectivity to infer landscape resilience and to set priority areas for restoration. Landscapes with intermediate habitat amount and where connectivity remains sufficiently high to favor recolonization were considered to be intermediately resilient, with high possibilities of restoration effectiveness and thus were designated as priority areas for restoration actions. The proposed method consists of three steps: (1) quantifying habitat amount and connectivity; (2) using landscape ecology theory to identify intermediate resilience landscapes based on habitat amount, percolation theory, and landscape connectivity; and (3) ranking landscapes according to their importance as corridors or bottlenecks for biological flows on a broader scale, based on a graph theory approach. We present a case study for the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (approximately 150 million hectares) in order to demonstrate the proposed method. For the Atlantic Forest, landscapes that present high restoration effectiveness represent only 10% of the region, but contain approximately 15 million hectares that could be targeted for restoration actions (an area similar to today's remaining forest extent). The proposed method represents a practical way to both plan restoration actions and optimize biodiversity conservation efforts by focusing on landscapes that would result in greater conservation benefits.
Endometriosis is a chronic, estrogen-dependent condition that causes dysmenorrhea and pelvic pain. Elagolix, an oral, nonpeptide, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist, produced partial to ...nearly full estrogen suppression in previous studies.
We performed two similar, double-blind, randomized, 6-month phase 3 trials (Elaris Endometriosis I and II EM-I and EM-II) to evaluate the effects of two doses of elagolix - 150 mg once daily (lower-dose group) and 200 mg twice daily (higher-dose group) - as compared with placebo in women with surgically diagnosed endometriosis and moderate or severe endometriosis-associated pain. The two primary efficacy end points were the proportion of women who had a clinical response with respect to dysmenorrhea and the proportion who had a clinical response with respect to nonmenstrual pelvic pain at 3 months. Each of these end points was measured as a clinically meaningful reduction in the pain score and a decreased or stable use of rescue analgesic agents, as recorded in a daily electronic diary.
A total of 872 women underwent randomization in Elaris EM-I and 817 in Elaris EM-II; of these women, 653 (74.9%) and 632 (77.4%), respectively, completed the intervention. At 3 months, a significantly greater proportion of women who received each elagolix dose met the clinical response criteria for the two primary end points than did those who received placebo. In Elaris EM-I, the percentage of women who had a clinical response with respect to dysmenorrhea was 46.4% in the lower-dose elagolix group and 75.8% in the higher-dose elagolix group, as compared with 19.6% in the placebo group; in Elaris EM-II, the corresponding percentages were 43.4% and 72.4%, as compared with 22.7% (P<0.001 for all comparisons). In Elaris EM-I, the percentage of women who had a clinical response with respect to nonmenstrual pelvic pain was 50.4% in the lower-dose elagolix group and 54.5% in the higher-dose elagolix group, as compared with 36.5% in the placebo group (P<0.001 for all comparisons); in Elaris EM-II, the corresponding percentages were 49.8% and 57.8%, as compared with 36.5% (P=0.003 and P<0.001, respectively). The responses with respect to dysmenorrhea and nonmenstrual pelvic pain were sustained at 6 months. Women who received elagolix had higher rates of hot flushes (mostly mild or moderate), higher levels of serum lipids, and greater decreases from baseline in bone mineral density than did those who received placebo; there were no adverse endometrial findings.
Both higher and lower doses of elagolix were effective in improving dysmenorrhea and nonmenstrual pelvic pain during a 6-month period in women with endometriosis-associated pain. The two doses of elagolix were associated with hypoestrogenic adverse effects. (Funded by AbbVie; Elaris EM-I and EM-II ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT01620528 and NCT01931670 .).
We propose that cold filamentary accretion in massive galaxies at high redshifts can lead to the formation of star-forming clumps in the halos of these galaxies without dark matter substructure. In ...certain cases, these clumps can be the birthplaces of metal-poor globular clusters (MP GCs). Using cosmological simulations, we show that narrow streams of dense gas feeding massive galaxies from the cosmic web can fragment, producing star-forming clumps. We then derive an analytical model for the properties of streams as a function of halo mass and redshift, and assess when these are gravitationally unstable, when this can lead to collapse and star formation in the halo, and when it may result in the formation of MP GCs. For stream metallicities 0.01 Z , this is likely to occur at z > 4.5 . At z ∼ 6 , the collapsing clouds have masses of ∼ ( 5 - 10 ) × 10 7 M , and the average stream pressure is ∼ 10 6 cm − 3 K . The conditions for GC formation are met in the extremely turbulent "eyewall" at ∼ 0.3 R v , where counter-rotating streams can collide, driving very large densities. Our scenario can account for the observed kinematics and spatial distribution of MP GCs, the correlation between their mass and metallicity, and the mass ratio between the GC system and the host halo. For MW-mass halos, we infer that ∼ 30 % of MP GCs could have formed in this way, with the remainder likely accreted in mergers. Our predictions for GC formation along circumgalactic filaments at high redshift are testable with JWST.
Efficient movement selection is crucial in everyday activities. Whether this function is governed by our stress system is so far unknown. In the current study, data from thirty-six young male adults ...were analyzed. They performed rule- and plan-based movement selection tasks before (session 1) and after (session 2) a psychosocial stressor, or after a control condition without additional social stressor. Results showed that the rule-based efficiency advantage which was observed prior to the psychosocial stressor was significantly reduced afterwards in the whole sample, as well as in the stress group. Regression analyses revealed that this effect was due to a modulation of the plan-based approach. Especially variations-both increase and decrease-in the parasympathetic activity (reflected by the heart rate variability measure RMSSD) appeared to be disadvantageous for plan-based movement selection improvement. In contrast, performance in the rule-based movement selection tasks appeared to be rather invariant to external influences. The current results suggest that autonomic nervous system activity might modulate motor-cognitive performance. This modulatory capability might be selective for plan-based approaches, hence the applied strategy to movement selection could be decisive when it comes to the vulnerability of motor-cognitive processes towards psychosocial stress.
This study investigated the association of blood pressure with blood oxidative stress-related parameters in normotensive and hypertensive subjects. A cross-sectional design was applied to 31 ...hypertensive patients and 35 healthy normotensive subjects. All subjects were men between the ages of 35 and 60 years. Exclusion criteria were obesity, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, smoking and current use of any medication. All patients underwent 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and sampling of blood and urine. Antioxidant enzymes activity, reduced/oxidized glutathione ratio (GSH/GSSG), and lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde) were determined in erythrocytes. Parameters measured in the plasma of test subjects were plasma antioxidant status, lipid peroxidation (8-isoprostane), plasma vitamin C and E, and the blood pressure modulators renin, aldosterone, endothelin-1 and homocysteine. Daytime systolic and diastolic blood pressures of hypertensives were negatively correlated with plasma antioxidant capacity (r=-0.46, p<0.009 and r=-0.48, p<0.007), plasma vitamin C levels (r=-0.53, p<0.003 and r=-0.44, p<0.02), erythrocyte activity of antioxidant enzymes, and erythrocyte GSH/GSSG ratio, with hypertensives showing higher levels of oxidative stress. Blood pressures showed a positive correlation with both plasma and urine 8-isoprostane. Neither plasma vitamin E nor the assessed blood pressure modulator levels showed significant differences between the groups or correlation with blood pressures. These findings demonstrate a strong association between blood pressure and some oxidative stress-related parameters and suggest a possible role of oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of essential hypertension.
Research on the barriers and limits to climate change adaptation identifies many factors, but describes few processes whereby adaptation is constrained or may indeed fail to avoid catastrophic ...losses. It often assumes that barriers are by and large distinct from limits to adaptation. We respond to recent calls for comparative studies that are able to further knowledge about the underlying drivers of barriers and limits to adaptation. We compare six cases from across Australia, including those in alpine areas, rivers, reefs, wetlands, small inland communities, and islands, with the aim of identifying common underlying drivers of barriers and limits to adaptation. We find that the path-dependent nature of the institutions that govern natural resources and public goods is a deep driver of barriers and limits to adaptation. Path-dependent institutions are resistant to change. When this resistance causes the changes necessary for adaptation to be slower than changes in climate, then it becomes a limit to adaptation.
Here we demonstrate design, fabrication, and testing of electronic sensor array based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Multiple sensor elements consisting of isolated networks of SWNTs were ...integrated into Si chips by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and photolithography processes. For chemical selectivity, SWNTs were decorated with metal nanoparticles. The differences in catalytic activity of 18 catalytic metals for detection of H2, CH4, CO, and H2S gases were observed. Furthermore, a sensor array was fabricated by site-selective electroplating of Pd, Pt, Rh, and Au metals on isolated SWNT networks located on a single chip. The resulting electronic sensor array, which was comprised of several functional SWNT network sensors, was exposed to a randomized series of toxic/combustible gases. Electronic responses of all sensor elements were recorded and the sensor array data was analyzed using pattern-recognition analysis tools. Applications of these small-size, low-power, electronic sensor arrays are in the detection and identification of toxic/combustible gases for personal safety and air pollution monitoring.
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